Jane Leeves

She moved to the United States, where she performed in small roles. From 1986 to 1988, she played her first leading character in the sitcom Throb, then secured brief recurring parts in the sitcoms Seinfeld and Murphy Brown. She was cast in films such as Miracle on 34th Street (1994), James and the Giant Peach (1996), Music of the Heart (1999) and The Event (2003). In 2018, she began appearing in the Fox medical drama The Resident.

• Name — Jane Leeves • Birth Name — Jane Elizabeth Leeves • Born — 18 April 1961 • Birthplace — Ilford, Essex, England • Occupation — Actress • Years Active — 1981–present • Children — 2

• Illustration — Leeves at the 1994 Emmys The daughter of an engineer and a nurse, Jane Leeves was born in Ilford, Essex, (present-day London) England. She was raised in East Grinstead, Sussex, along with two sisters and a brother. She was a regular on The Benny Hill Show, in the dance troupe Hill's Angels. She made use of her experience as a dancer in a scene in the 1983 film Monty Python's The Meaning of Life. In the US, she appeared as a tourist with a baby in the video for David Lee Roth's song "California Girls", but struggled for several years to establish an acting career. She had a recurring role in the television series Murphy Brown as Audrey Cohen, the smart but awkward girlfriend of producer Miles Silverberg (played by Grant Shaud). She also appeared as the troublesome virgin Marla Penny in four episodes of Seinfeld: "The Virgin", "The Contest", "The Pilot" and "The Finale – Part 2". During this period, Leeves was cast as Holly for the pilot of the American version of the science-fiction comedy Red Dwarf. In 1993, Leeves joined the cast of the television series Frasier as the eccentric, forthright and psychic Mancunian Daphne Moon. By the start of the eighth season, Leeves was pregnant, and the writers incorporated her pregnancy into shows as weight gain due to her character's stress from her relationship with Niles Crane (portrayed by David Hyde Pierce). By the conclusion of Frasier, Leeves had been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 50th Primetime Emmy Awards in 1998, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film at the 52nd Golden Globe Awards in 1995. Appearing less frequently in cinema, Leeves lent her speaking and singing voices to the animated film James and the Giant Peach (1996) as Mrs. Ladybug, and appeared in Music of the Heart (1999). In 2002, she appeared in the Broadway musical Cabaret. In 2004, she hosted an episode of the television comedy quiz show Have I Got News for You. Her 2006 show, The WB's sitcom Misconceptions, went unaired. • Illustration — Leeves in August 2012 Leeves provided guest vocals in The Penguins of Madagascar as Lulu, a female chimp with whom Phil fell in love. With her Frasier costar Peri Gilpin, Leeves also set up the production company Bristol Cities (cockney rhyming slang for 'titties'). Their last project was in 2007, a pilot for a US remake of the British sitcom The Vicar of Dibley titled The Minister of Divine with Kirstie Alley in the title role. In 2010, Leeves guest starred in two episodes in ABC's Desperate Housewives as Lynette Scavo (Felicity Huffman)'s and Tom Scavo (Doug Savant)'s therapist Dr. Graham. From 2010 until 2015, Leeves played the 40-something ex-"eyebrow artist to the stars" Joy Scroggs in the TV Land comedy Hot in Cleveland, with Valerie Bertinelli, Wendie Malick (also her co-star in the final season of Frasier) and Betty White. In 2011, she was nominated Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series with the rest of the cast at the 17th Screen Actors Guild Awards. The series ended in 2015 after six seasons and 128 episodes. She returned to television in 2018 with her first regular role in a dramatic series, orthopaedic surgeon Kit Voss, in the Fox medical drama The Resident.

Leeves is married to Marshall Coben, a CBS Studios executive, with whom she has two children, a daughter and a son. Peri Gilpin, Leeves's co-star on Frasier, is her neighbour and close friend and was in the delivery room when Leeves's first child was born. In season 8 episode 17 of Frasier, "It Takes Two to Tangle", Niles Crane – Frasier's brother – tells Gilpin's character that Leeves's character has lost at the health spa, which is a reference to the actual weight of Leeves's baby girl.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1983–1985 — The Benny Hill Show — Hill's Angel — 4 episodes • 1986–1988 — Throb — Prudence Anne "Blue" Bartlett — Main role • 1987 — Murder, She Wrote — Gwen Petrie — Episode "It Runs in the Family" • 1989 — It's a Living — Terry Tedaldo — Episode "I Never Sang for My Father" • Mr. Belvedere — Professor Ann Burns — Episode "The Professor" • Hooperman — Annie — Episode "Stakeout" • 1989–1993 — Murphy Brown — Audrey Cohen — Nine episodes • 1990 — My Two Dads — Harriet — Episode "See You in September?" • Room for Romance — Episode "A Midsummer Night's Reality" • Who's the Boss? — Ms. Adams — Episode "Parental Guidance Suggested" • 1991 — Blossom — Sheila — Episode "Love Stinks" • 1992 — Red Dwarf USA — Holly — Unsold • 1992–1998 — Seinfeld — Marla Penny — Four episodes • 1993–2004 — Frasier — Daphne Moon — Main role; 264 episodes • 1995 — Caroline in the City — Daphne Moon — Episode "Caroline and the Bad Back" • 1998 — Hercules — Athena — Six episodes • 2003 — The Simpsons — Edwina — Voice, episode "The Regina Monologues" • 2004 — Have I Got News For You — Guest Presenter — One episode • 2006 — Misconceptions — Amanda Watson — Seven episodes • Twenty Good Years — Mary Frances — Episode "Big Love" • 2008 — The Starter Wife — Ann Hefton — Two episodes • 2009–2011 — The Penguins of Madagascar — Lulu — Voice, two episodes • 2009–2013 — Phineas and Ferb — Various characters — Four episodes • 2010 — Desperate Housewives — Dr. Graham — Two episodes • Notes from the Underbelly — Gracie — Episode "Accidental Family Bed" • 2010–2015 — Hot in Cleveland — Joy Scroggs — Main role • 2016 — Crowded — Gwen — Episode "The Fixer" • Lego Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures — Lt. Estoc — Voice, two episodes • 2017 — The Great Indoors — Cheryl — Episode "Roland's Secret" • 2017–2019 — Mickey and the Roadster Racers — Queen of England, Babette Beagle — Voice, four episodes • 2018 — We Bare Bears — Ari Curd — Voice, episode "Googs" • 2018–2023 — The Resident — Dr. Kitt Voss — Series regular

The authorities additionally record the heading Jane Elizabeth Leeves. Her recorded language was English. She married Marshall Coben.